Best time to buy a snowblower

iahawkeye83 · 2025-07-28T22:06:36+00:00

Now that I have the driveway and the landlord has handed the lawn maintenance over to me I’m wondering when is the best time to buy a snowblower in terms of pricing. Should I pull the trigger now (no political discussions please) before the effects of tariffs take effect, should I wait until fall. I’ve been pricing them on Amazon and they have off-brand units (PowerSmart) with the Briggs & Stratton engine in the $600 range and they have the Craftsman in the $1,200-$1,400 range. Would prices go up when we get closer to winter. I have a small snowblower in a storage unit but it hasn’t been used since the winter 2016-2017 and is probably seized up and needs extensive repair. I would use buy now pay later.

egeezer

iahawkeye83
That’s a really nice one that should be good for most snow a foot or less deep. I have tire chains on mine, they came with the blower. They really help with traction when clearing deep or wet snow, or if there’s ice under the snow.

iahawkeye83

AMDUSER the tires are deflated. I’m going to inflate the tires and change the oil. I’m hoping it starts up like the Honda lawn mower that has been sitting idle since 2019. The snowblower has been sitting idle since 2017. I used the lawn mower at the house I lived in from 2017 to 2019 and the lawn mower sat outside in the elements. Honda lawn mowers are top notch. It’s a shame they discontinued their gas mowers. I looked up Amerisun and PowerSmart and it sounds like they should market their equipment at Harbor Freight from the reviews I’ve read. Might be good for a few jobs and then good for scrap metal. The main complaints are poor quality and horrible customer support (not answering phones or honoring warranties).

AMDUSER

iahawkeye83 Also, change the spark plug as well. Just in case, it has been sitting for a while.
It would not hurt to put a small amount of Sea Foam in the gas tank then running it until it is out of gas. That should clean out the engine, especially the carburetor and remove the varnish / gum that may have formed. The reviews I read, basically said the same thing about the Smart Power.. generally, not built to last- garbage.

Some of the engines that Harbor Freight sells actually work decent enough. I changed the engine on the lawn mower I had, which had a factory Briggs when I bought it, but it had problems starting year 1 or 2 of owning it. I purchased the mower new. I have not had any issues with the Harbor Freight lawn mower engine. [I bought the HF engine during 2020, I was going to replace the mower, even though I was only 3 or 4 years old due to problems with it. I had tried replacing the gas, changing the oil, spark plug, even the carb on it. ] Lawn mowers were generally not available locally at that time.

iahawkeye83

I took the tires off and put a tie down strap around them. I went to the self inflator at Costco but it would not work because the tires were flat. The guys at the tire shop were nice enough to inflate them for me. I stopped at Home Depot next door and got an air filter for my Honda lawn mower. Killed two birds with one stone. Put the tires back on the snowblower and then put a small amount of fuel in it. It started back up, second piece of equipment that aged well in storage. I found a Craftsman air inflator in the tool chest which was in the storage locker that was battery operated and I had the charger but given the amount of time its been in storage the battery was no good. Given the fact that Sears is out of business the tool is an expensive paperweight.

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